Obamacare Survives

After seven years of campaign promises, billions of dollars raised, and dozens of show votes, the Republican dream of repealing and replacing Obamacare appears to be dead. Ultimately it was Arizona Sen. John McCain who cast the decisive vote early Friday morning, joining Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins in voting against the “skinny repeal” measure which would have kept the GOP’s hopes alive. The defeat left the GOP and the President with almost nothing to show legislatively from the first six months of Republican control. Now the party is moving on to tax reform, where despite months of work, there is still no clear outline for the GOP plan.

New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci’s explosive interview with The New Yorker is still reverberating through the West Wing. In a normal White House, Scaramucci would have tendered his resignation already for launching an assault on two top aides—and at minimum he would have apologized for his attack on his colleagues. Instead, he’s going to continue his efforts to oust chief of staff Reince Priebus from the administration. But Priebus, like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, isn’t taking the hint. Neither is resigning anytime soon, despite pressure from the President, in part because they don’t want to give their critics the satisfaction of their departure.

High drama in the Senate. The White House’s attacks on gay rights. And a Russia sanctions bill heads to Trump’s desk.